What you're looking at below is one of the first "Thin mini-ITX" motherboards sold in the retail channel. The GA-MSH61DI is designed for extremely compact mini-ITX cases, that are thinner than the rear panel of ATX/ITX form-factors, and all-in-one PCs. The board draws power from an external power brick through a 12V DC input jack, the board then gives out SATA and Molex power via cables. It seats socket LGA1155 "Sandy Bridge" Intel Core i3/i5/i7 processors with a maximum TDP of 95W.

The CPU socket is powered by a 3-phase VRM. The processor is backed by Intel H61 Express chipset. It is wired to two angled DDR3 SO-DIMM slots that can hold up to 8 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1333 MHz memory. There are no perpendicular expansion slots, but there's one mSATA slot that can hold an SSD, an mPCIe that can hold a wireless networking card, and an LVDS (low-voltage differential signaling) slot that can be used for devices such as VGA connections to LCD panels. The H61 chipset gives out two SATA 3 Gb/s ports apart from the mSATA slot.

While there is an 8-channel HD audio CODEC, there isn't enough room for audio jacks. So there's one 3.5 mm line-in, and a TOSLINK connector that gives out 7.1 channel digital audio. There's also a 2-channel HDA front-panel header. There are two USB 3.0 ports and two USB 2.0 ones on the rear panel, two more ports via headers, and one gigabit Ethernet connection. The sole display output is an HDMI 1.4 connector. There's no word on the pricing.

I don't see how the "consumer build" will be able to put a processor and even an ultra thin cooler in a space LESS than that rear output panel. I think they should have designed it a little higher with the audio and with DVI outs, and supplied it WITH a "laptop/GPU" type cooler, possibly even WITH a case too, since putting this is a regular ITX case defeats the purpose. I found yesterdays ASROCK announcement much more appealing.

Had a corsair H50 in a Sugo06 so cpu isnt a problem but rather the mobo with no heatsinks over the vrm or anything else for that matter. Even if OC was an option it wasnt possible especialy on the H55 itx board without those small pin style heatsinks.

I don't see how the "consumer build" will be able to put a processor and even an ultra thin cooler in a space LESS than that rear output panel. I think they should have designed it a little higher with the audio and with DVI outs, and supplied it WITH a "laptop/GPU" type cooler, possibly even WITH a case too, since putting this is a regular ITX case defeats the purpose. I found yesterdays ASROCK announcement much more appealing.

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If Apple can do it in a Mini, Gigabyte and others can too. Yeah it would need a specialized HSF. Maybe they'll also make a special case for these things in the future. Wouldn't mind an APU setup like this. Something the size of a Mini with decent graphical capability would be great for me.

If Apple can do it in a Mini, Gigabyte and others can too. Yeah it would need a specialized HSF. Maybe they'll also make a special case for these things in the future. Wouldn't mind an APU setup like this. Something the size of a Mini with decent graphical capability would be great for me.

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The Apple Mini is a different class of product. This doesnt even come close to Apples connectivity options, ... and dont forget that inside the Mini is a LAPTOP CPU AND LAPTOP CHIPSET that are SURFACE MOUNTED and therefore (albeit less powerful) cooler and smaller.

If you really want something that looks like an Apple, buy one! And install Bootcamp (Windows).